By LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Published 10:11 pm, Thursday, January 17, 2013

A Bellevue dentist accused of sexually assaulting three young women working at his office has been charged with rape and related crimes.

King County prosecutors contend Dr. Kam Derakshani attacked the women at his business, Bellevue Advanced Dental Clinic, and threatened their jobs if they reported him to authorities.

The three young women went to police in March after he pinned one woman against a wall and touched her genitals, a Bellevue Police detective told the court. A subsequent investigation uncovered myriad allegations against Derakshani, who is charged with sexually assaulting all three employees.

Another former employee interviewed by police also claimed Derakshani often found excuses to brush his hands against the breasts of female patients and sent staff out of the room when he was examining them.

According to charging documents, one woman told police she went to Derakshani for the first time in late 2011. Having diagnosed her with several cavities, Derakshani treated her teeth and ultimately hired her to work for him.

Derakshani, a 48-year-old Mercer Island resident, groped the woman on her first day at work, and continued doing so on a daily basis in the weeks that followed, the Bellevue detective said in court documents.

“(She) felt disgusted and didn’t know what to do and couldn’t’ believe this was happening to her,” the Bellevue detective told the court.

In March, Derakshani again reached into the woman’s clothes and forced her to touch his crotch, the detective continued. That day, she and two other employees went to the Bellevue Police Department, which launched an investigation.

Another woman told police Derakshani began groping her months after she went to work at the office.

Speaking with police, the woman said Derakshani was briefly deterred after she threatened to break his hand if he touched her again. Six months later, the woman continued, Derakshani called her into his office and shoved his hand down her pants.

The woman told police Derakshani reached inside her clothing on several other occasions and sometimes pinned her in place when she tried to leave.

The third employee offered similar allegations against Derakshani, saying he reached into her clothing and threatened her job when she rebuffed his advances, according to charging documents. The woman also told police Derakshani pinned her against a wall on several occasions.

Several former employees told police Derakshani groped them, though some of the alleged assaults occurred several years before. According to charging documents, at least one expressed her thanks that someone finally reported Derakshani.

Writing the court, the detective noted that several of the women were either afraid to lose their jobs at the clinic or concerned Derakshani would ruin their chances of finding other employment. According to charging documents, one woman who left was unable to find other work because of an unfairly poor review given by Derakshani.

Bellevue officers searched Derakshani’s office on March 16, the day the three employees went to police with the allegations. Derakshani’s medical license was suspended in August.

Derakshani has been charged with third-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment, as well as indecent liberties, Washington’s law against unwanted sexual touching. Prosecutors have asked that he be held on $50,000 bail, though he has not been jailed in the case.